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Monday, August 09, 2010

BlogHer'10

Listen up bloggers. The important thing - HAVE YR BIZ CARDS W/ YOU at all times. Go to Moo.com, Zazzle, do SOMETHING! Mommie bloggers ROCK! There were so many rocking babies at the NY Hilton Thursday, Friday and Saturday at BlogHer last week. 2,400 attendees - 1000 more than last year! We ROCK! We are STRONG! We are the world, Bloggers!We DO make a difference!There's a terrific recap @Marketing to Women...I borrowed this paragraph:"For the uninitiated, BlogHer, founded in 2005, is a network of over 2,500 female-centric blogs, a "curated selection of authentic voices," according to BlogHer's About page. BlogHer is also a community for female bloggers, where they can find support, help, and inspiration. And finally, BlogHer is a yearly conference, which this year was held in New York City, August 6 and 7." Next year it will beBlogHer'11 in San Diego There were panels all day and you could wander in and out. Design Sponge, Grace Paley, along with Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom and designer Alex Vega gave us the lowdown on Good Blog Design:The role of layout in an online medium - the room was packed. Did you know if you have Google Analytics you can 'heat map' your blog and see what readers are hitting on the most? We all hit hard on the Hilton lunch buffet with lots of vegan choices - YUM And two floors of BlogHer sponsors. Thank you P&G and Emily for the fab makeover... Thank you Marmaduke for not messing my new hairdo... Do you know Dianne Jacobs' blog? If food writing is your schtick go visit. The updated edition has a new section for bloggers. My original copy was ripped in half to take to Paris, so I picked up the new one.Thanks Dianne for reminding me I MUST create a separate 'About' page. So much to do post-BlogHer! Diane chaired the panel on How to use your blogging to make you a better writer.In 2007 I wrote Elisa Camahort Page (one of BlogHer's founders and in the middle) requesting a panel for women online artists. I wrote again last October and Elisa was ready! So I got to speak on Transforming Online Spaces into Art Places, along with photographer-writer, Karen Walrond of Chookoolooks and performing artist Khadijah Ali-Coleman. During our panel I met Jane Pollak, coach-author-artist of Soul Proprietor, 101 lessons from a lifestyle entrepreneur. I went racing after her to chat and she gave me her book. On the way home I opened to Lesson 56 "Go! You might meet somebody!"Oh Jane, how did you know? Just the advice I need.I'm so glad I went to BlogHer. I met and heard lots and lots of women tell their inspiring stories.I met Libbydesign a PB fan.Jo Packham of Where Women Create.Vic DaChick of A Window into my life.I met first year CIA student, Bekah of BeekEats.Hi PBer, Cynthia of A shimmy in my spirit. Thanks for coming to the panel. I've got stacks more biz cards here :)

There is one problem though - I am not a 'Tweeter' nor a Facebook person yet. Flickr, Etsy, Zazzle, Blogger yes. But social media NO. Big NO. I'm seriously behind the 8-ball and I have to do something about it FAST!

36 comments:

Well, I was gonna say...I'm dizzy but this made me more so. & just sign up for Twitter, silly girl. Then do a search for juliethecat (moi) & click on 'follow' & then tweet it out, baby. I'll retweet & then they'll retweet. I would sign up for that before FB. It's so fast. Don't forget to do a quick template change so that Paris Bfast macarons, birdies, etc. are in the background. Go for it. Off to collapse. Thanks for the great suggestions. A separate 'about' page is in the cards but when you can barely get Googley Analytics to recognize a new template (fume), it's soooooo irritating.

Like Guilia said -- just go for it... dive right in and tweak it as you go along... and she is right about Googley analytics too, frustrating.

I hate facebook ugh! so trite. Twitter well I guess if it is good enough for Martha dearest...

I will have to explore some more your links here, and comment later. It makes sense for you because of your lovely watercolors -- but then you may just get so darn popular -- I may not be able to afford you.

A "Friend" was showing me how to do FB on her iPad and suggested I 'friend' a bunch of ppl. I don't even know.Now Facebook will not let me into my own account because I accessed the account on real friend's iPad. Plus I am supposed to pass a test and recognize 7 of my so-called new friends, none of whom I recognize.Go figure.I'm cooked.

I asked you to be my friend on fb and you never replied, woman. I tweet here and there, but not much lately. None of it is hard, and you'd enjoy it, Carol. Sounds like you had a great time. Good for you!

Carol, if that lady is really you, you look fabulous! The hair do is very modern.This post is great, I will have to spend some hours here, checking every link you gave.I don't like FB (even though I have it!) or twitter, don't like people I don't know, that close to me. But that's just me...Good luck!

Twitter is super easy to use (and I resisted it for a long time). I tweet all the time - one Twitter account for my blog followers: Cottagewayoflif and another for the weekly column I write for miceage.com:pressingmatterz

I like Twitter slightly better because it doesn't involve any of the "be my friend" acceptance stuff that Facebook requires (which always feels so high-school-ish to me). You just follow or you don't.

I Facebook too though (just search for Sue Kruse), also super easy.

One thing I use a lot for my Pressing Matters stuff to post links to things I like is addthis.com Once you register there (free) you can get a toolbar for your computer & then if you're on a page you'd like to tweet about or post to Facebook, you simply hit the appropriate icon on the toolbar & voilà, add this writes the post (which you can add to or change as you wish before actually posting the post) & adds a clickable URL so you don't even have to think about it. su.pr is another site that does the same thing if you don't fancy addthis.com

Also, if you have a phone that uses apps, Echophone & Twitterific are two good Twitter apps that make posting a photo or anything really, very simple to do on Twitter. Facebook also has an app (called, wait for it ... Facebook)that is simple to use for posting anything on Facebook as well.

Good luck with the social media! Once you get going, you'll have a lot of fun with it & you will have probably, oh I don't know, a bazillion followers? PressingMatterz & Cottagewayoflif are both now following you on Twitter, so get in there & tweet! ;-)

@Cottage Way of LifeYr comment has me just about in tears...I can't even figure out how to do those weird links in TwitterFB will not let me into my acct-someone else has accessed it they say.Yes me on my SF friend's iPad when she was visiting in NY.At least I can do Blogger adn Flickr but who knows for how long..I'm ready to give up.No one wants the tweeting bird watercolor evidentlytoo much work :(Thanks anywayFYI I do not have a cell phone yet, so no appsI do have many digital cameras = doesn't count :(And I do still use smiley faces, so no wonder I'm a ludite.cg

Great post! I would love to go to something like this, but find it so heard to hear about these things before they actually happen. Also, I live in London, so don't know if there's any blogging things like this in the UK.

One of the things I'm really intersted in is the Google Anaytics heat mapping that you'd mentioned. Do you have any more information about it? I have analytics, but can't find any info about heat mapping on the actual Analytics site, or when I've googld it. Where can I find more info about it?

Hi there. Both Twitter and FB can be useful. They are both quite different.

On Facebook, it is good to have a a personal account and then make a "page" for your business. You can keep your personal page just for frends and family (don't friend people you don't know, just refer them to your "biz" page). Your business page(used to be called fan page) is for anyone who is interesetd in what you do. Often friends will also "like" your biz page too so will get posts twice if you say some of the same things but if they are a friend they won't mind:)There is a limit to how many friends you can have on an account but on a "page" it is an unlimited number, great for growing fan bases:)Here's my "biz" page http://www.facebook.com/shelaghduffett.artYou can link your twitter and FB so that one post will do both also.This is getting long so I will sign off. I can tell you about twitter later:) I have 2000+ followers over there.It is quite different from FB. Go for it! Send me an email for more info.(on my blog about page is address)Cheers Shelagh

Just had to say I love the 4"x11" Piu Piu study! Such yummy bright colors. Sorry but am clueless about Facebook (don't really care to know what people are doing every moment of the day...yawn), as well as Twitter. Good luck!

Today's Paris Breakfasts was perfect! I have started a blog on a couple of occasions, but it never seemed quite right and have been thinking of starting anew. I have thought what I really need is to to read more about blogging and perhaps really sink my teeth into (as it were) more food related blogs and see what I like, and what is said, tips, do some research on good vs not so much, etc. I think my insecurities have been paralyzing... and then I read your posting and was inspired again! THANK YOU!

Hi Carol, I have a bakery that was formerly based in Park City, Utah. I worked crazy hours, and had little time/desire for facebook or twitter; however, I recognized its value for building my business, branding, long-term marketing, etc. I had a consultant that set up all of my business accounts, and updated them. All I had to do was tell him about our new cakes and tarts for that week. It was super easy...he was technical enough to know how to get things done. More importantly, he knew which venues to target for my business and area, how to monitor the accounts, how to use the technology to its fullest. I traded him tech-ease for baked goodies. I'm sure these types of folks exist in the New York area. Perhaps a quick email to all those business cards you collected, asking them who they know that can make this happen. Feel free to email me, I can send you my consultants info....Also, I think your Larudee tweets painting is one of your best...very clever...and would be great on a tee-shirt or tank. Cheers, Rose

What a pleasure it was to finally meet you in person at BlogHer. Thanks again for taking photos of me and sending them for use on my blog. I really appreciate it. And for mentioning me and my book again here. You are too much! I don't know how you do these long photo-heavy posts but I really enjoy them.

What a pleasure it was to finally meet you in person at BlogHer. Thanks again for taking photos of me and sending them for use on my blog. I really appreciate it. And for mentioning me and my book again here. You are too much! I don't know how you do these long photo-heavy posts but I really enjoy them.

ParisBreakfast Letters

♥carol gillott♥

l'Ile Saint Louis, Paris, Ile de France, France

Hi I'm Carol Gillott,
My Mom taught me watercolors at 5. I'm still at it but now tripping over cobblestones on l'Ile Saint-Louis In Paris. Savor Parisbreakfast with a hot chocolate and croissant.
I paint Paris dreams.